NGDA-L, a new listserv to discuss the National Graphic Design Image Database at The Cooper Union

Cooper Union School of Art

The National Graphic Design Image Database at Cooper Union was developed at The Herb Lubalin Study Center of Design and Typography, a division of the Cooper Union School of Art is designed to electronically preserve and disseminate material related to the history and theory of graphic design. The software, entitled CUIMAGE, enables students, designers and artists to access and input images and analysis from web sites worldwide. NGDA-L is intended to promote discussion on visual analysis issues related to the NGDA Image Database. Funded by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the project aims to build a virtual visual encyclopedia through an electronic community of educators. Additional information on the project is available at Majordomo@cooper.edu with the following message in the body of your message:
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Public Access

Public access to the National Graphic Design Image Database at Cooper Union is available at http://ngda.cooper.edu. The public access version displays data for all the records, but access to images is currently restricted to select items and those created before 1920.

Test Sites: Comprehensive Access

Educators interested in accessing the unrestricted version of the Database, should send e-mail to Lawrence Mirsky, director of the The Herb Lubalin Study Center and the NGDA Image Database, at mirsky@cooper.edu or Richard Goodman, Visual Analyst/Cataloger, at goodma@cooper.edu. Please enter "NGDA Access Request" in the subject heading. In your request for access please include your name, title, institution, IP address, e-mail address, physical location of the computer (to verify on-campus use) and a statement explaining the purpose for accessing the Database. The IP address is the unique identifying number for a computer's internet connection. Please ask your network administrator for assistance.

Integrates Film,Video and Multimedia Formats: The system currently supports images (GIF and JPEG format), motion pictures and sound (QuickTime format and Macromedia Director) and text. New media formats may be added through the component template system.

Incorporates Visual Identity Programs: The user interface of the system is based upon user defined sets of HTML template files. The system can use any graphics created for the web and provides full support for all features of HTML allowing users the flexibility to establish their visual identity.
An arbitrary number of user defined interfaces may be created and can coexist with one another through a single computer serving the Database. Interfaces can be constructed for specific uses and access points in a collection.

Customizes Cataloging for Cross-Disciplinary Applications: The data structures used are generic enough to be useful for use in engineering, technical and comercial visual database applications. Standard vocabularies for other disciplines can be imported into the system and coexist with the AAT (or any other hierarchy).